[OPEN][BACKDATED] Hold out I'll give a little piece of me

[chronomancer]

Characters: (Jade!)Eridan('s blood) and you!
Setting: Fleeing from the infirmary and up towards the dormitory, so stairways because Eridan's not reasonable when he's freaking out this bad.
Format: Action but I'll match your preference.
Summary: BACKDATED to Valentine's day. Eridan managed somehow to escape Dualscar's... "attentions", but not unscathed. So now he's leaving a very obvious jadeblooded trail as he flees towards his dormitory so he can hide under his bed.
Warnings: Lots and lots of jade green and it's not grubsauce. Will add more as necessary. Feel free to add chocolate shenanigans too if you want.

[Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Eridan stumbled as fast as his legs could take him, which didn't seem to be enough. Maybe running after losing an arm, still bleeding from losing an arm, wasn't the brightest of ideas, no. And maybe if he had been thinking straight, he'd have headed for the elevators, rather than the stairs.

But fuck rational thinking, he's going on the sheer terrified certainty that if he stops moving, if he lets Dualscar grab him again, he's going to die.

He might still die, as it is, what with the blood loss that's also painting a very convenient trail behind him, or the cuts on his throat and his face. But the single important thing is that he's not going to die at Dualscar's mercy.

Fuck that. If he's going to die, he's going to find a nice, cozy corner and then kick the bucket die on his own damn terms. Which at the moment seem to be anywhere but here.]

Comments

[guiltapalooza]

[At some point he runs into Willow going the other direction on the stairs. She promptly shrieks in surprise at all the blood; she's spent enough time around trolls now to react that way despite it not being red, and her reaction is just as visceral.

She's mindlessly rushing over to his side, hands fluttering uselessly, clueless about what she can do that won't make it worse.] Oh Goddess, [she says in numb horror,] oh Goddess, oh god. What happened?

No, wait, I'm being stupid, we have to get you to the infirmary! Come on, I'll help you--

[Crisis management. She's done this before; she can do this. She reaches out to help support him on the side with the intact arm, but even as she does, she knows for certain: she can't heal this. It's too much. She doesn't know what she can do, but she has to try.]

[chronomancer]

[Without the sunglasses, lost somewhere in the middle of Dualscar's little show of affection, Eridan's eyes are expressive as expressive can be. And the moment Willow stops him, every single bit of that primal fear driving his steps becomes apparent. He scrambles away from her, nearly rolling off the stairs in his attempts to scape, because fuck, fuck, fuck. Now who's trying to get a chunk off of him?

He might have bitten her in the struggle to get away. There's a lot of blood, fuck, and it doesn't hurt, except in the arm that's not there anymore, everything else is peachy and awesome and for fuck's sake, just. Let him die.]

[guiltapalooza]

[Her heart stops at how scared he is, and she stands, frozen.] --Ow, [she yelps, startled out of her shock when she gets bitten. Willow claps a hand over the mark, but she can't even check to see if it's bleeding: she's still transfixed, staring at him.

She takes a slow step forward, and then stops, giving him space.] ... Eridan. [Her voice is soft.] Eridan, it's okay. It's me. I'm going to help you. I won't let-- whoever or whatever it was hurt you anymore, I promise.

[chronomancer]

[Eridan bares his teeth at her, a poor parody of a warning, when it's obvious he can't do much for himself, but the spirit of threat is there. He backs into a wall, one hand... his only hand clutching at his shoulder, trying to hold back the blood still dripping down. Eyes wide, he growls, not unlike a cornered animal. The cuts on his face add to the feral look as he presses up against the wall, trying to disappear into it.

Oh god, can't he just get a break? Just for a little bit? He probably deserves it, and he's probably the worst kind of scum for wanting a break from what he deserves, but still. Oh god.

Yeah, it's going to take a little more than just that to snap him out of it, Willow.]

let me know if you want her to heal him!

[selenic]

[Estelle practically has a heart attack when she runs into Eridan. She's not used to seeing troll blood, so her first reaction is that he's covered in paint. And then she sees his arm, and...

She gasps, hands going to her mouth. She's been around enough severe injuries that she doesn't completely break down, but his arm...]

Eridan?

[Oh god, the poor thing is terrified. She hesitates, then reaches for his shoulder slowly in a vain attempt to calm him down.]

Eridan, it's going to be okay. I'm going to help you, all right?

[She does an admirable job of keeping her voice steady.]

[chronomancer]

[He nearly runs into her. She says his name, and he's... he's a lot less frantic than when Willow found him, but it still takes a moment to place her face. Pink hair. Right. And then he blurts out the first thing that comes to mind:]

I'm sorry.

[He's backing away, slowly, still half a mind to run.]

[selenic]

[She blinks, and nearly asks him what in the world he's sorry for until she reminds herself that this isn't really the time.]

It's all right, Eridan. You're safe now.

[She's doing everything she can not to look down at what was once his arm. She hesitates, loosening her grip on his shoulder and shooting him an imploring look.]

I can heal you, remember?

[chronomancer]

[He returns the imploring look with a whimper, flinching away from her hold. God, he just wants to find somewhere to curl up and hide.]

...you don't havve to. I'm sorry. It's. It's okay, really.

[mutab1e]

[So guess who forgot to warn Equius about the stairs?]

[...Well, no one knows for sure, but whoever was instated to warn incoming bros about such vandalous elevation fixtures was obviously not doing their job. They also neglected to clean up the steady stream of definitely not grubsauce currently smeared all down the staircase. If Equius hadn't been the type of troll who kind of looks down when he walks anyway, then he almost certainly would have slipped on this not-grubsauce and been sent hurtling downwards.]

[Aren't you glad, Eridan? You should be glad.]

[In any case, as soon as he notices that the green stuff on the floor is not in fact grubsauce, he kind of stands there for a moment, staring at it -- and then takes off in one direction or another on the staircase. It seems he's going up. Blood on the stairs is not something to be taken lightly.]

[chronomancer]

[He got as far as floor twelve before he had to slow down and rest. So he's curled up by the entrance to the floor, trying to catch up his breath. Fuck everything. Everything.

Clearly, Eridan wasn't worrying about the possible dangers and complications leaving the stairs coated in not-grubsauce could cause. He will be mortified once he finds out, fear not, but in the meantime, he's busy wondering if he's going to die if he passes out where he is.

And most importantly, if he even cares.]

[mutab1e]

[He's making no attempt to hide his footsteps, or indeed be very quiet at all. So as he gets ever closer to floor twelve, it must sound terribly ominous to hear someone thundering up the stairs, hmm?]

[He's just about to enter floor twelve, Eridan. If you're going to try and run for it again, you'd be well off to do it now. Teehee.]

I am a troll. A bloody troll. /rimshot

[chronomancer]

[Oh, fuck. Oh fuck. Why. Why, why, why, why! He's tired, damn it. He needs a break. He deserves it, doesn't he? Fuck.

Eridan tries to pick himself up again, but much of his adrenaline momentum has been lost.

Also, blood is slippery.

No one warned them about the stairs, bro. No one did. Which is why Eridan slips and rolls rather ungracefully with a loud curse, in trajectory to collide with Equius' ascend.]

[verymuchalive]

[Aradia happens to be coming the other way when she sees Eridan running towards her and it doesn't take her long to spot the jade trail he's leaving behind.]

Eridan, what happened?

[chronomancer]

[He nearly runs her over, taking a bit too long to realize who it is. He doesn't want to stop. Oh god, he has to keep going, going, oh god, don't let him catch up with him again. But then there's Aradia and he doesn't want to be mean, but all he wants is to find a nice, cozy corner where to hide away.]

Nothin. It's nothin, just. It's okay. I'm okay.

[Which is why he's bleeding jade everywhere and looking like he's being chased by the hounds of hell themselves. Right?]

[verymuchalive]

You're not okay. You're bleeding. We should probably get you to the infirmary before you lose much more.

[And she'll be reaching to try and grab him so she can do just that]

[chronomancer]

No!

[God, why does everyone want to drag him back to that stupid floor? Eridan flinches at the shrillness of his own voice.]

I mean. No. It's okay. Really.

[What does he have to say to convince you? Oh!]

It just looks wworse than it feels.

[floreatnoctem]

[The trails of green would not have fazed her if she hadn't been aware of the fact that there were residents of the tower that bled green.

So she followed the trail, brows climbing progressively higher until she finally spotted the figure hobbling along up the stairs. She recognized the shape of those horns- Eridan, or one of them, at least- and so she sped up, intending to overtake him and get him to sit still long enough so she could fix him up.]

Eridan.

[Her voice isn't loud, but it carries a command in its tone that she's not used to having ignored. If he doesn't stop, she will stop him, if only for his own sake.]

[chronomancer]

[Eridan stops, not so much because he wants to but because he's ordered to. He recognizes the voice, vaguely, but he can't place it exactly. All he knows is that he's heard it before, but not whether it's a good thing or not. Unfortunately he's already standing still, so all he can do is look at the approaching figure somewhat warily. He swallows hard.]

...yeah?

[floreatnoctem]

[It doesn't take her long to catch up to him, and her eyes flicker briefly over him, not quite catching the extent of his injury just yet. There is concern on her fact, only even remotely visible because she knows better than to approach someone so young with her usual impassive expression.]

What happened?

[mamadonna]

[ Dolorosa had gotten away from from the madness of the workshop and was inclined at that moment to similarly hide, but encountering a small trollboy bleeding the same hue she carries stops her in her tracks. She only knew of one such candidate, though, and hoped her assumption was correct. ]

E-Eridan?

[chronomancer]

[The sound of his name on an unfamiliar voice caught him by surprise. The surprise turned to something like renewed horror when he caught sight of the looming adult troll.

She didn't look happy.

He wasn't sure he could deal with another not-happy adult troll in one day. Eridan swallowed back a whimper and backed away slowly, ducking his head.]

I'm sorry, I was just--

[mamadonna]

[ Oh, but there are so many kinds of unhappiness, Eridan, this one being more pained than angry. She kneels a little while reaching out to him. ]

There's little to apologize for, and certainly no time. You've been injured, that presents a dilemma which must be solved immediately!

BACKDATED YEAH

[caliginous]

[So Karkat had been heading to the infirmary for some painkillers because jesus fuck it had been a crazy few days. He's still not entirely sure if he was dreaming or if everything had actually happened, despite the very real evidence on various parts of his once flawless skin.

In fact, his skin is about to be the least of his worries, despite the fact that it was already leaking spidery veins of cerulean. Suddenly, he smells the familiar scent of blood overpowering him and not long after he finds himself bracing his body against a certain jade-blood.]

Slow it the fuck down Ampor--what the fuck happened to you?

[His voice, usually loud and pompous, is strangely strangled and muted thanks to a very obvious wound around his neck. Bleeding slightly, though it appears to be covered by violent bruises as if someone had tried to choke him and throw him around a bit.

Chances are, someone probably had tried that very thing that was just mentioned.]

<3! Oh, wait. <33333333 There, perfect.

[chronomancer]

[Eridan likes you, Karkat. He does, swear to god. But you make him twitchy and nervous on a good day and today has not been a good day, okay? Today has, in fact, broken the record of shitty days all over paradox space and then some.

In short, the eyes that look up at you are this side of terrified and kind of feral and then he flinches like he's been struck at the question. Because really, please don't be mad at him. Oh god.

And he'd like to pull himself away and scramble off the stairs like the possessed, profusely-bleeding jadeblooded wonder that he is, but that kind of run needs momentum and you just stole all of his with your body. Damn. So he just. Stares up at Karkat, looking like a deer against the highlights and bracing for the impending crash with the corresponding eight-wheeler attached to said highlights.]

[caliginous]

[Too late. He just shoves Eridan back, keeping a grip on his shoulders as he does it and gives him a horrified once over before glaring straight back into his eyes.]

What the ACTUAL FUCK did you do to yourself? Did you turn yourself back in time and end up in a god damn grub mashing device, or have you taken your self-depreciation to the next pitiful rung on your echeladder of failure?

[Oh christ oh god he can't handle this right now. He's covered in jade blood on top of the cerulean flecks that covered his collar. No time (which is hilarious, considering who he's holding).]

Let's go, spit it out. What happened?